first tub bath

Noah really enjoyed his first bath in the tub. His eyes got really big when I put him in the water, then he totally relaxed while I swished the water over him. The only part he didn't like was when I scrubbed his head with the wash cloth.

So I know my descriptions are pretty lame, but I'm just glad I'm finally getting some pictures up! I'll get a little more creative/interesting when I have a little more time to put into this (if that ever happens!).

easter dresses

Here are the girls in their Easter dresses before church. Between Abby's creative poses and Madilyn's silly faces these are the best pictures we could get!

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Here's Noah wearing the first boy clothes we bought after finding out he was a boy. Yep, it's a Star Wars shirt. Awesome!
I spend a lot of time feeding, changing, burping, bouncing, etc, him in a chair next to a window. He likes to lay on the footrest and look at the window.

Not to leave out the girls, here's Abby, who has begun posing every time I take her picture.
While Abby wants to look pretty, Madilyn always wants to look silly. She was upset with me that I managed to get this next picture of her making a normal face.

my what big eyes you have!

birth day

Here's what I looked like the morning we went to the hospital to have Noah. I was enormous. My feet and ankles had been swelling for weeks, and even my face was puffy.
My doctor started me on pitocin at 8:55 AM, and he was out almost exactly 5 hours later at 1:53 PM. Labor with each of the girls was so fast and hectic that this time seemed to take forever. It was weird to be relaxing in the hospital for so long just waiting for something to happen. My wonderful sister Colleen was there and helped me through labor without an epidural. I'm pretty sure I would have insisted on an epidural if I had known how big he was!
Here's my first view of him, crying on my chest immediately after delivery:
Here's proof of his weight, 10 lb 1.3 oz:
Here's a big yawn after he got cleaned up:
And here's the first family picture, taken when Eric brought the girls to see me in the evening:
We had to skip the newborn size diapers and clothes, both were a bit snug. Also, he had jaundice so we had to use the bili-blanket for a few days. Other than that things have gone well and we're all loving the new addition to our family!

here we go again

This is my attempt to restart this blog. This post is just to record a few of the things the girls said in anticipation of getting a baby brother.

Before we knew Noah's gender Madilyn said she hoped for a boy and Abby wanted a girl (or gril, as she says it). Madilyn was super excited to find out he was a boy, and Abby was equally disappointed not to get a girl (luckily she's come around).

In all of Madilyn's prayers she prayed for the baby: bless him to be healthy, come out good, etc. As his due date got closer she started praying, "Please bless the baby that he'll be really, really, really, really cute." Then, right before he was born she prayed, "Please bless the baby that he'll be as cute as I imagined." When she saw him for the first time I asked if he was as cute as she imagined, and she said he was even cuter!

Madilyn often talked about how she planned to take care of the baby, teach him things, be his best friend, and always be wherever he was. She said he'd have to sleep in her room. She made him a bed by putting a pillow and blankets in the bottom of a box. She even fell asleep in it once to prove how comfortable it was.